totemyoudaoicibaDictYouDict[totem 词源字典]
totem: [18] Totem is of native American origin, and denotes etymologically ‘belonging to a family or group’. Its ultimate source is the stem *ōtē- ‘belong to a local group’, and it was adapted from an Ojibwa derivative formed with a possessive prefix ending in t, such as otōtēman ‘his group or family’, hence ‘his family mark’.
[totem etymology, totem origin, 英语词源]
totem (n.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
animal or natural object considered as the emblem of a family or clan, 1760, from Algonquian (probably Ojibwa) -doodem, in odoodeman "his sibling kin, his group or family," hence, "his family mark;" also attested in French c. 1600 in form aoutem among the Micmacs or other Indians of Nova Scotia. Totem pole is 1808, in reference to west coast Canadian Indians.